


If He Had Been Too Late

by BrokenRepeat



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Canon Rewrite, Canon-Typical Violence, Final Battle, M/M, Only Kinda Shippy, Spoilers - Kingdom Hearts II, Violence, almost sad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-03
Updated: 2017-03-03
Packaged: 2018-09-28 01:22:39
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,112
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10061615
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BrokenRepeat/pseuds/BrokenRepeat
Summary: The final stage of the fight against Xemnas in Kingdom Hearts II, but Riku fails to protect Sora and what happens after.





	

The laser bolts rebounded against my keyblade, the searing red beams deflecting off into every direction as we weaved around each other. I couldn’t keep my entire focus, a part of my mind keeping an eye on Sora as he flipped and slashed around as the onslaught continued. Xemnas cackled outside the dome as he watched us defend ourselves. I shielded Sora a few times with the flat of my blade, glad to hear the tang of the metal being hit rather than the pained sound of my best friend. 

It finally stopped, just as I knew I couldn’t last much longer. As the dome turned to blinding light, I heard the jangle of Sora’s chains and the clatter of his keyblade against the ground. He must have been exhausted as I was. Barely lifting my head, I saw the same red light come at me before I was sent backwards. The impact hurt but not as much as Sora’s voice. 

“Riku!” he called to me, but I couldn’t muster enough strength to make a sound. I tried, using everything I had, to lift my head. Xemnas had his blade barely an inch from Sora’s throat and my grip on Way to the Dawn tightens. As the tall man raised his sword, I moved faster than I had ever before. I was almost there, my keyblade held up to block the attack once I was in place. I was too slow.

The burning, energy-coated blade swung down and Sora raised his arm in defence. His left arm. Watching in horror as the short brunet slammed into the floor a few feet away, all I could hear was his scream. At one point, I got confused if it was still Sora making that horrible noise or if it was me yelling at him. Xemnas laughed again, slashing his sword to the side to flick off the bubbling drops of blood that dried as soon as they hit the floor. 

I could feel it, the darkness rising in me as I watched helplessly.

“You see, Riku? This is what happens when you fight the darkness. No matter how much you think the light can protect you…It never does.” His words made it hard to breath. I was kneeled down, barely having the strength to hold my keyblade. Waiting for the next attack, I did what I thought I could. I looked to him, my light. I hadn’t known what to expect. Maybe Sora lying there, bloody and gone where I couldn’t reach him. So much further than the many worlds we had seen in the past two years. 

Of course, I was mistaken. Sora was as upright as I was, breathing heavily and gripping his shoulder tightly. Blood dampened and stained his jacket and he now held his keyblade with his injured arm so his good hand was free to clutch the wound I had been too slow to prevent. He was looking at me with determined eyes, still as bright and sparkling as they had been back on the islands. Sora never changed, at least not in the ways it mattered. A smile brighter than the sun was directed at me, and I felt a surge of energy. As always, just being near Sora meant never having an easy moment. He’d never let me give up.

We both stood, though he made it farther than I did. As if knowing what he planned, I handed over Way to the Dawn. One keyblade was impressive, but with both Sora looked like something unmovable and dangerous. The bat-wing shaped blade didn’t suit him, much too dark for such a light. Despite that, he wielded it easily. Slash and slice, stab and surge. He repeated the attacks over and over until he was under Xemnas and criss-cross slashing his back. Sora landed beside me and I put my hand over his. Even in my exhausted state we could still finish this together. With a blast of pure white energy, Xemnas was gone.

“We did it!” just as Sora grinned and moved a step, what seemed like an endless amount of Nobodies appeared around us. I pulled myself to my feet, taking back my sword as we began hacking away at them. There truly was no end, and though the numbers dwindled they didn’t disappear. The pressure of Sora’s back against mine was lost and as I looked over my shoulder I could see him on his knees. He’d dropped the keyblade, using the hand to grip his still bleeding shoulder. The seared fabric of his jacket and shirt showed the wound but I could barely look at it. Flesh burnt black at the edges and raw, blooding muscle cut by the blade of our enemy. 

Just as I thought it was over, because there was no way I could fight off these Nobodies alone, more light filled the room. The Nobodies were gone, but Sora was worse than before. He was collapsed on the ground, his spiked hair slick with sweat and slicking to the cold tile of whatever space we were stuck in. 

“Sora…! Sora, get up!” I pulled at his unhurt shoulder, jostling him slightly and only gaining a groan in response. I was out of potions and after a quick check of his numerous pouches, I was sure enough to say so was he. I could imagine the pain he was in, and I knew there was no way he’d be able to manage moving.

“R-Riku…” His voice was shaky and rasped, tinted with pain as he had to breathe. The motion probably stretched the ruined skin and made the agony worsen. I moved to his good side and lifted him up, holding his arm over my shoulders. He was shorter that I was, so I had to slouch a bit as to not pull on him too much. Sora’s feet dragged on the ground as I pulled him along, trying to get to the light that had appeared across the room. It seemed so far away. “Don’t look so discouraged…think positive. We’ll get o-out of here, trust me.”

“How can you say that…? Even if we do get out of here, you know where we are.” Darkness. Once again, I was trapped here behind a closed door. It was worse this time, because I knew Sora wasn’t on the other side. He wasn’t safe and with Kairi, protecting her. Kairi…after watching her fight the past few hours I couldn’t really say she needed protecting anymore. Now, even she had a keyblade. Despite my own pessimism, I started walking with Sora leaning against me. His hair tickled the underside of my chin, the soft spikes brushing against my sweaty skin when the younger boy moved his head up to look at me. 

There it was again, that smile. Even though he was in so much pain, Sora was thinking of my wellbeing. We were both exhausted, hurt and trapped here in the darkness…but Sora remained like a sun to me. Warm as the sands of the Destiny Islands and as shining as the stars that filled the night sky. 

“Sora... You know, I always thought I was better than you. At everything.” I started, only to hear my friend laugh at my words. “Are you mad…?”

“No, I did too. It’s okay.” With the laugh came a wince and another, softer chuckle. “Hey Riku…Look!” I raised my head, from looking at him, surprised to see the light we’d been going towards sparkling and growing bigger as we approached. I pulled Sora a little closer, hoisting him up a bit so I could adjust his arm and settle him into my side while we kept walking. As we entered the light, everything went dark.  
We were standing on the beach, though not our beach. This beach had black sand, and rocks with iridescent violet veining cut into them. It was beautiful in a way, but I knew what this place was.   
“End of the line…” It was. We’d reached the end of the darkness. There was nowhere else to go.

“You can put me down, I can walk.” After giving him a doubtful look, I obliged Sora’s request. I let him down gently, my hands hovering around him for a few moments in case he teetered. When he didn’t, I pulled away and stepped forward, looking at the sight before us. The encroaching black tentacles, frozen in time as stone, reached over the beach and into the ocean. The water lapped at the sand, pushing and pulling it as the waves rolled in. I turned to talk to Sora, needing to know how he thought he could be happy here, but when I looked for him, he was on the ground. 

I dropped to my knees in the sand, sliding a bit after running frantically to his side. Luckily he was getting up on his own, not seeming too bothered by his fall. He ignored my hand as I held it out, hoping to help him up. “Sora, this world is perfect for me, but not for you. The light, it doesn’t belong in the darkness. You shouldn’t be here…shouldn’t be with me.”

“Oh quiet…any place you are is where I belong. I didn’t chase you all this time just for you to want me gone.” He sat back onto his heels, and grinned at me. How can he still be smiling?

“If this is what the world is, what the world truly is…If the world is made of light and darkness, we’ll be the darkness.” I could tell immediately that my words shocked him. No matter how much it bothered me, Sora was here in the darkness with me and didn’t want to leave. So, we’d be here together. He was company I’d always want, after all.

“Yeah... The other side, the realm of light is safe now. Kairi, the King, and the others are there.” Sora nodded and looked towards the sea and I turned, dropping myself onto the sand beside him.

“That’s what I mean.” I looked down, seeing my shoes and tattered pants. 

“Hey Riku, can you help me? I wanna sit at the water with you.” Sora poked my arm and tilted his head. Same tactics he used when we were kids, though at that time he’d always been asking for me to take him to the play island and away from the mainland. In the rare case, it’d be the escape his mom when he didn’t do his chores or homework. I could never say no, and it was yet another thing about him that hadn’t changed. 

I picked him up carefully, this time hooking an arm around his back and the other under his knees. I carried him that way, with his head dropped against my shoulder, down to the water where we then sat down together. I closed my eyes for a moment, smiling as I listened to the new world around us. “At least the waves sound the same.”

We sat for a long time, talked about different things. At some point, Sora had leaned over and fallen asleep against my arm. He’d been through so much, we both had. Now that we’d had a chance to rest, I cast Curaga over both of us and it definitely helped ease the pain. Sora’s face loosened, ridding itself of that painful twist it’d been holding on to. With his head moved into my lap, my fingers moved slowly through his hair to get rid of the grime and sand that had managed to get into it. He looked a lot younger when he was sleeping, almost like the boy I remembered from before all of this happened. From before I fell into darkness. I was falling again, but this time not in a bad way. 

For nearly a year, I had worked to save Sora and Kairi. At times, the ones I hate most, I had given into my lust for power and tried to eliminate Sora, who was standing in my way. Now, for the last year I had watched him sleep, tried to wake him up, fought on his behalf and battled the organization with Mickey. I lost my body for what I thought would be forever. It was always Sora in my thoughts, driving me in everything I did. Even back on the islands where I thought I was in change, Sora was my guiding light that never wavered. Looking down at him now, I realized this is the closest I’ve ever felt to him, and the most precious I’ve ever stopped to consider him.

**Author's Note:**

> This was not Beta-read. If you see mistakes kindly let me know and I will fix them. Also, if you have ideas you'd like me to write please, I will consider them all. 
> 
> I just got into Kingdom Hearts and thought this fandom needed some more recent angst and worry :D so here is my attempt at it. 
> 
> Also trying a new format, shorter paragraphs to make it easy to read on mobile as well as to keep your spot in general.


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